The Canadian Donald Trump

By now, everyone is well aware of the shocking upset that Donald Trump handed the GOP, beating their promising politicians by winning their nomination, then, slowly, their support, and finally the presidency.

However, what I think is the most interesting part of Trump’s campaign is how he was instantly over saturated by every news outlet, twitter feed, dinner table conversation, and classroom discussion around not only America, but the whole world. I remember having an hour-long conversation with my science teacher in class about Trump the day after he announced his intent to run, and I live in Canada.

Regardless of your opinion on the President-elect, even before all the hype, you most definitely had one.

Critics and disbelievers’ of the future president often cite his lack of political qualification for the job when making arguments against him, but fail to consider his business qualification.

Trump’s victory asks an important question that has never really been answered: Why can’t governments be run like a business? With the Carrier deal we saw Trump make early after the election, to Apple beginning to source American made components for their devices, and most recently the Boeing deal, a strong case for economic deterministic leadership has been made.

Now, shift north of the border to Canada, where the Conservative party is in a state of reform. After the resignation of Stephen Harper and the win of the Liberal Party’s Justin Trudeau, party leadership is about to undergo a big shakeup. Rona Ambrose, interim leader of the party, has done an excellent job so far, but in terms of a permanent leader one man is standing out above the other leadership candidates. I expect that some of you who may be fans of Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank will recognize his name.

Kevin O’Leary.

Kevin O’Leary, Canadian business magnate, has been toying with the possibility of a leadership run for a few months now, but recent reports have shown that O’Leary is inching closer and closer to announcing his official run.

So what does this mean? If you’re a liberal reading this, specifically a Canadian liberal, you’re probably starting to sweat a little bit. O’Leary and Trump are often considered similar not only in venturous spirit, entrepreneurship, and a want for limited government, but also in temperament.

O’Leary, like Trump, is heading into this race against a lot of up and coming conservative prodigies and veterans. So far, there are fourteen confirmed candidates in the running and three more rumored to be considering it, not including O’Leary.

The field is a bit crowded, but as O’Leary notes in an interview with CBC Radio, “…all of them have to find a way to get their name out there — I don’t have that problem. They all have to find a way to raise money — I don’t have that problem. So, the best strategy for me is to simply wait until that herd gets culled.”

What allowed Trump to win his party was the name recognition that O’Leary shares with him, the financial backings that O’Leary shares in, and his anti-establishment mantra that O’Leary also believes in. Trump let the politicians beat each other up, and then walked through them all, speaking for the American people against those established politicians.

Please clap for Jeb Bush.

This anti-establishment mantra was summated by Trump’s “drain the swamp” statement, and as a matter of fact, O’Leary even has a similar call to arms.

In a video published on his official Facebook page, O’Leary brandished a spatula that he said will be needed to “…scrape all that crap out of Ottawa,” come 2019. Could the spatula comment become a rallying cry like drain the swamp did? Only time will tell.

An O’Leary Prime-Ministership looks like it would be huge for business and tax payers, while simultaneously cutting the large government problem we’ve been facing in Canada that will only get worse under Trudeau’s reign. At the same time, it has the potential to create a strong partnership between the U.S.A and Canada that I can’t help but think will falter under Trudeau in the Trump era.

However, O’Leary doesn’t necessarily see it this way. In the same interview with CBC Radio, he stated, “I think Trump versus Trudeau is Godzilla versus Bambi.”

It remains to be seen what the next three years of Trudeau and Trump leadership will bring, and it’s hard to really predict with any accuracy, but O’Leary’s quote takes a close shot. Looking forward, if Trump does win a second term and O’Leary wins in 2019, a conservative North American partnership with two strong willed, economic minded men will provide wonders to both countries’ job prospects, trade deals, and national debts.